News & Updates

Questions were raised as to whether Justice Michael Gableman violated the state ethics code and the code of judicial conduct by accepting free legal services in defending himself against a judicial ethics violation charge arising from his 2008 campaign. In two cases, Gableman voted in favor of parties represented by the firm that provided free legal services to him.

Gay Cook has been with IAALS' Board of Advisors since 2015, where she has served as a source of objectivity, perspective, intellect, and candor. We thank her for being our conscience over the years, and we are better for her lens and contributions.

Professor Anthony C. Infanti, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, uses a problem-based teaching method to expose students to the complex concept of international tax law. Through this course, Professor Infanti exposes students to what practicing international tax law is really like. The full course portfolio is now available online, including teaching objectives and outcomes, application tools, videos, course materials, and student work.

A house subcommittee approved a bill that would allow the governor to replace the five members of the judicial nominating commission who are appointed by the governor without bar association input. (Currently, commission members serve four-year terms and may only be removed for cause.)

In response to the Conference of Chief Justices' Call to Action, the Oregon Supreme Court's Civil Justice Improvements Task Force has supplied dozens of recommendations for improving civil justice, including ways to better protect consumer debt defendants. In August, Oregon implemented new procedures for tracking consumer debt collection cases and directing consumer debt defendants to the Oregon Courts website for questions and support for their case.

In 2012, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis was named an Honorary Diplomate of ABOTA—the American Board of Trial Advocates. She received the award last month in Austin, Texas, when she presented at the ABOTA National Jury Summit 2013. Since 1958, ABOTA has acknowledged only 26 individuals as Honorary Diplomates for their tireless work in furtherance of the American Justice System and the civil jury system.

The house of representatives approved a plan that will, over time, eliminate 36 judgeships and cut $5.7 million from the state’s annual budget. The chief justice characterized the plan as “unprecedented” and “the largest cut in judgeships ever accomplished in the United States.”

Since the launch of our Building a Better Bar project last July, IAALS has made significant headway in empirically defining the minimum competence law school students need to move on to successful practice. As of mid-February, we've held nearly 40 focus group sessions; we will wrap up all focus groups in March, and are preparing for a thorough analysis of the rich qualitative data we have gathered.

In The Docket, Barbara Mueller discusses the 2nd Annual Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Conference as a window into the ongoing discussions of legal education reform that are taking place nationwide. At one session, a panel of law school deans from across the country discussed a number of such approaches that their law schools are undertaking.

In November 2011, Initial Discovery Protocols for Employment Cases Alleging Adverse Action were approved by the Civil Rules Advisory Committee for implementation in pilot projects across the nation. The Protocols were developed by a diverse group of employment lawyers, with assistance from IAALS. 

In mid-April, the Louisiana Supreme Court announced changes to its rules to increase public access to judicial discipline proceedings. With these changes, Louisiana joins the growing tide of states that are embracing transparency—a key component of IAALS’ recommendations for judicial discipline systems.

A proposed amendment to the South Carolina constitution purports to change the waiting period for a no-fault divorce from 365 days to 150 days. Opponents argue that shortening the waiting period will lead to an increase in divorce, while proponents believe that the one year waiting period creates financial problems for couples and unneeded stress for children.

Chosen by a vote of his fellow justices, Matthew Durrant was sworn in as chief justice. Durrant replaces Christine Durham, who stepped down after ten years as chief but remains on the court.

On August 20, IAALS and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law co-hosted a virtual discussion with Rohan Pavuluri, Andrea S. Jarmon, and Andrew Arruda, who covered issues of racial injustice in both legal education and the profession, as well as what regulatory reform actually looks like in action.

On June 11, 2014, IAALS and the NJC will co-host a webcast for state court judges at no cost. This webcast will enable judges to: adjudicate disputes involving ESI, including the identification, preservation, search, review, production, and admission of ESI; apply ESI terminology such as metadata and native format correctly; and use resources developed by IAALS to assist state court judges in effectively handling e-discovery.

A recent blog post by Jeff Lipshaw on the inevitability of multi-disciplinarity in law practice made comparisons to a Wall Street Journal article* that called for expansion of the undergraduate business major: “. . .I understand this is about…

In June of this year, HiiL surveyed thought leaders in the justice sector about what it would mean to deliver justice during the COVID-19 crisis. The goal was to collect real-time data about justice needs and innovative responses to the pandemic, including the kinds of problems expected to increase and the ways justice institutions in various countries were already responding to them. 

This week, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis penned an article for the ABA Journal’s The New Normal, which focuses on how the litigation process is being remade. Kourlis walks down the road that reforms in the civil justice system have taken so far, in an effort to make the civil justice system more accessible, less costly, less time-consuming, and more responsive to the needs of the public.

Despite an earlier agreement to move forward with Senate confirmation of judicial nominees, Senator Al Franken and others report that the process remains acrimonious. Nearly one in 10 seats on the federal bench are currently empty.

In May, the National Center for Access to Justice published the latest iteration of the Justice Index, a national survey of state civil justice policies. Based on an examination of policies across four civil justice areas—attorney access, support for self-represented litigants, language access, and disability access—the index assigns a score to each state.